


Paper Stars

by veryterriblewritings



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Angst, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-24
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2020-10-27 07:42:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20756795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/veryterriblewritings/pseuds/veryterriblewritings
Summary: A bunch of paper stars for the actual star~





	Paper Stars

“Soon-young,” the middle-aged woman called him as he was watering the garden.

“Yes, mother,” he answered her, turning his head to her direction and stopping what he was doing.

“Come inside, son, and let’s drink some tea,” she said, smiling lovingly to him to which he replied with the same smile as he walked towards her and followed her into the kitchen.

“The tea smells amazing, by the way,” he said as he took a seat after she settled in a seat in front of him as she poured him a cup.

She handed him the cup as she smiled before sipping the tea from her own cup.

“Son,” she started, putting down her cup on the table. “I appreciate how you come here every day to accompany me,” she smiled, grateful. “But, you don’t have to do this anymore,” she said, squeezing his hand tight.

“What do you mean?” he asked, confused as he furrowed his eyebrows and put down his cup as well.

“I mean, we’re not even related,” she said, sighing. “I love having you around, I do,” she quickly retorted as she saw his expression changed. “But, you don’t have to come here and do all the things my children should do. This is not what she would have wanted you to do,” she explained, still squeezing his hand, trying to reassure her good intentions.

“But I want to do this, mother,” he affirmed. “I promised her to take care of you when she’s gone,” he said.

“I know,” she nodded. “But, checking on me once a month should be more than enough,” she suggested. “I don’t want you to spend your whole life on me, on this family. I want you to go on and live your life and move on. She wouldn’t want you to live like this,” she claimed.

He took a deep breath as he knew she was right. He knew this day would come eventually but somehow he didn’t want to move on.

“Son,” she called out again. “Your life is still going on. I want you to live it, and move on. I’ll forever feel guilty watching you live your life as though you’re the son-in-law of this household when you’re not. My daughter is gone and she has lived her life. I thank every god that she got to spend her last days with me and you. I’ll never forgive myself if you don’t get to live your life,” she spilled her heart’s content to him.

He sniffed and nodded as he smiled when he met her gaze.

So, there he was, having a tea time with his supposedly mother-in-law before she walked him out, stroking his head lovingly.

“Oh, I found a box under her bed yesterday. It has your name on it, she probably would want you to have,” she said as she disappeared behind the stairs and came out again with the said box in her hands.

“There you go,” she said, handing the box to him.

“Thank you, mother,” he thanked, giving her a kiss on the cheek. “Just so you know, even if you don’t want me here, I’ll still come by to check on you. And, call me, if there’s anything at all I can do for you,” he said.

She nodded and rubbed his arm before he disappeared into the car. That was when he drove straight home with the box sat on the passenger’s seat.

He sat on his bed as he placed the box next to him. He took a deep breath as he read the card that was stuck on top of the box.

_Soon-young’s – (Keep it! Or don’t)_

He let out a laugh as he removed the lid, revealing the content of the box. There was a picture frame of the two of them together, from 10 years ago as he remembered, from when they were younger. There was a photo album, containing candid pictures of him and her, separately and together. And there was a tall, transparent jar of folded paper stars. It was her favourite thing, as he remembered. She would fold them for fun while studying, trying to remember some history notes for the examination. She would fold them as they were chilling on a Sunday afternoon, watching movies. She would fold them for two weeks straight as she was procrastinating on a paper she was writing.

There was one time when he became a nervous wreck because he afraid he was going to be rejected by his dream school. So, one week before the entrance exam, she gave him a jar full of stars. When he opened them one by one, there were good and funny fortune phrases written inside each of the stars. He would read it whenever he got stressed and laughed at her lame and stupid puns and overdramatic phrases.

_“You’re doing it all wrong!” she yelled as she yanked the papers from his hands. “You’re wasting my papers and these are all top quality flowery expensive papers,” she scolded him. “You’re banned from doing this with me ever again,” she said when he tried to fold them with her._

_“Show me one more time. I totally got it,” he whined as he picked up another piece of paper and shoved it to her face._

_And so she did. She was folding it slowly, explaining every step to him as he nodded._

_“I got this,” he whispered to himself as he started to fold again. And there he was, failing miserably, the crumbled paper in his palm looked nothing like a star._

_“This is no paper cranes, Soon-young,” she rolled her eyes as he made a mistake. “It’s like super easy. I don’t get how you can’t do this simple thing when you do all the super hard hands flipping, legs breaking dance moves you do every day,” she sighed as he shrugged and threw the paper on the table, surrendering on the folding mission._

_“You know what, why don’t you do the writing part of it and I do the folding part? You got those lame, stupid, occasionally hilarious puns. Write those down and I’ll fold them,” she suggested when she saw him pouting as he dropped his head on the table._

So, he took the tall jar of paper stars out of the box and placed it on his lap. There was a sticker on lid of the jar.

_A bunch of paper stars for the actual star~ these is your daily prescribed medicine from me but only take one star per day, don’t get overdosed!_

“This is the most selfish thing you ever done to me,” he uttered as he sniffed, trying swallow his tears when he read the sticker that was stuck on the tall jar full of folded paper stars.

He was still swallowing his tears when he opened the lid of the jar and picked one paper star out, beginning to unfold it. He read the writings on the paper, her own handwriting that he immediately recognized.

_You can do this, Kwon Soon-young!_

He smiled through the sniffles, letting out an airy chuckle. He picked another paper star.

_That dance you thought when you’re in the bathroom this morning? Do it again right now!_

He laughed as he closed his eyes, wiping away a tear as his vision was blurry. But he put away the paper and picked out another star from the jar anyway.

_I believe in you, always have and always will._

And, there he was, sitting in his bed, crying his eyes out. He totally got what she meant by one star per day because right there, right then, he was overdosed and it felt like he was punched it in the gut.


End file.
